Some of you may recall my swimming pool enthusiasm from the beginning part of 2013 and our delight as a campaigning group that our local Baths did indeed survive the threat of immediate closure and live to fight another day, another two whole years even. But those over armband age know how very quickly time flies and the fact is that from sometime in 2015 our local council will be concentrating their efforts on a brand spanking new leisure centre and if we prove ourselves capable, Withington Baths may well be run by our community group. There are events to be organised and run, substantial funds to be raised, i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed, with so far a rather fabulous group of people donating brainpower, time and energy to the cause.
Our first fundraiser a few weeks ago, organised by Manchester DJ Dave Haslam, was a brilliant evening hosted by John Thomson and featuring the ace Justin Moorhouse, Andrew Ryan and Hayley Ellis. Lots of wine, lots of laughs, over £1000 raised 🙂
Now something for the kids! Sunday September 1st will see Withington Baths hosting a Pirate’s Day as part of West Didsbury’s WestFest, open to all from 12-4, with a Fancy Dress competition, children’s Treasure Hunt from the corner of Burton Road and Nell Lane (all day), the inflatable in the pool, sports training sessions, X Marks The Spot (with locally donated prizes) and a Treasure Chest Lucky Dip.
Guess who got tasked with making the Treasure Chest?! Not content with finding a simple barrel (we don’t do simple at Moregeous), I looked online for a little inspiration. That was the benchmark set high then #doh:
As ever St Anne’s Hospice charity shop came up trumps with an old bedding box for a fiver when I told them it was for a good cause (thanks lads). I scoured the Moregeous Cellar of Shame for old metal brackets & accessories then sprayed them gold, plus found some lengths of pine cladding to create a panelled look and painted the whole lot dark walnut with some woodstain left over from a previous job. Don’t be put off by the colour of timber if you like the shape of something – anything can be painted and transformed!
I used gold paint to write the words Treasure Chest and superglued some holiday leftover 10cent Euros coins randomly on the inside of the lid – I BET someone tries to get them off 😉 For an added treasury feel, I also superglued some old jewellery on the lid – check charity shops for great gold & fake pearl finds. On Ebay I found a party shop selling treasure maps for 99p and added that too!
Along with the gold sprayed brackets and handle, plus a massive sack of sawdust from Fallowfield Timber, all we need now are the Lucky Dip prizes and the kids to show up on the 1st!!
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